Coronavirus has not gone anywhere, a new wave is coming
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The World Health Organization called on countries around the world to restore quarantine restrictions against COVID-19, such as masks and testing.
COVID has not gone away and scares the world with a new wave of the pandemic. The World Health Organization is seriously concerned about the increase in the number of cases of covid, which complicates the work of already overstretched medical services around the world. Everyone is again offered to return to masks and tests.
It’s not over yet
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the pandemic is not over yet and the death rate is rising again. According to the WHO, the number of infections and hospitalizations is rising again due to subvariants of the Omicron strain.
“I am concerned that COVID-19 cases continue to rise, putting additional pressure on stretched health systems and healthcare workers. I am also concerned about the upward trend in deaths,” he said.
According to the head of the WHO, governments are now facing several challenges due to their response to the coronavirus and the reduction in testing and sequencing.
In his opinion, there is currently a disagreement between the scientific community and political leaders and the public about the perception of the risks of COVID-19. Although there is progress in the world in methods to combat coronavirus that prevent hospitalization and death, the pandemic has not yet been overcome.
New variants of Omicron
Last Friday, the WHO emergency committee on covid concluded in an online meeting that the pandemic remains an international public health threat. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO Emergencies Programme, said the number of coronavirus cases reported to WHO has jumped by 30% over the past two weeks, mainly due to Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 strains.
At the same time, the WHO committee acknowledges that the trajectory of the evolution of the virus and the characteristics of emerging strains remain “uncertain and unpredictable.”
Varieties of coronavirus BA.4 and BA.5 were first identified in South Africa last year and have since spread rapidly around the world, so experts say they could soon become dominant in Europe and the US.
BA.4 and BA.5 are close relatives of the Omicron variant, which caused a wave of illnesses last winter but turned out to be less dangerous to health. According to the American Johns Hopkins University, it is much less likely to lead to the death of patients or require their hospitalization.
Back in March, the WHO began tracking these options as they spread faster than others.
Indeed, today they are present in most European countries and threaten to overshadow all other varieties of coronavirus. In Portugal, for example, this has already happened with strain BA.5. Similar trends are observed in the US and even Australia.
As with other variants of the coronavirus, the elderly, those with weakened immune systems or serious health problems are most at risk of becoming seriously ill with covid.
The best protection for today, according to experts, remains vaccination and subsequent booster vaccinations.
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